The post The best thing about Noita and the worst thing about Noita first appeared on Killa Penguin.

I had the misfortune of being limited to an incredibly outdated computer when Noita first released, and while pixel art usually denotes games that can be run on a potato PC, this game’s physics simulations results in lots of slowdown when things get busy. As such, I didn’t really feel that I did Noita justice and counted down the days until I had access to my normal PC again. Now that I’ve reached the end (or the credits, at least—this is a game that’s more about the journey than the destination, and I keep discovering interesting new things despite ostensibly finishing the current content), there are a bunch of things that I absolutely adore about Noita. There are also a couple of things that I don’t particularly care for.

The thing that makes Noita so much fun is the feeling that you’re constantly on the verge of breaking the game; wands can be purchased or found in levels and come with varying firing speeds and numbers of spell slots, and once you learn to work around your rapidly regenerating mana pool, you can create powerful machine gun wands or use the knockback from spell effects to enable infinite flight. Between each level you can select one of three perks, and choosing fire immunity can enable you to use wands that spit out fire and sparks without having to worry about accidentally self-immolating.

You have a lot of flexibility as far as wand creation goes, but you never seem to have enough information. Spells have tooltips that explain what they do well enough, but it’s rarely clear what multiple spells working together will end up looking like, so you have to cancel out of wand customization over and over and figure out what they do through trial and error. If you’re using a wand with limited charges, testing it out means having fewer charges during the next level, too. The sense that you don’t have enough information doesn’t end there—it’s not uncommon to lose a run to something exploding despite seemingly being undisturbed (which is how the embedded video ends). And while I love how perks can change the gameplay in radical ways, there doesn’t appear to be a way of seeing what they do before you commit to one of your three options. It looks like a blind choice.

Again, though, Noita is more about the journey than the destination. Requiring experimentation to figure basic things out can be frustrating for those of us who don’t have a lot of free time, but I can see how it makes sense in a game where you’re constantly discovering new things. In my last playthrough, for example, I threw an egg and suddenly had ~10 enemies dissolving the ground around me with acid. Based on the Steam forums, there looks to be numerous secrets littered throughout Noita‘s world. This is an intriguing game that I’d appreciate a little more clarity from, but those willing to spend dozens of hours exploring every nook and cranny to exhaust Noita‘s secrets will no doubt love it for what it is.